Peening apparatus



Jan. 5, 1960 s. A. HESTAD ETAL 2,919,517

PEENING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 15, 1958 United States Patent 2,919,517 PEENING APPARATUS Selmer A. Hestad and Duane H. Stotler, South Bend, Ind., assignors to Bendix Aviation Corporation, South Bend, Ind., a corporation of Delaware 1 Application September 15, 1958, Serial No. 760,891

Claims. (Cl. 51-8) This invention relates in general to a peening apparatus and in particular to mechanism constituting a part of said apparatus and advising the attendant as to whether or not the apparatus is functioning properly.

Now in apparatus of this character it is desirable to include therein indicator means, observable by the attendant, for determining whether or not the peening shot or other abrasive of the apparatus is flowing into the air gun thereof; and it is also advisable that said indicator means advise the attendant as to whether the stoppage in the apparatus is in the hopper thereof or at a point between the indicator means and theair gun, that is in the conduit means interconnecting said indicator means and gun.

It is accordingly an object of our invention to provide,

as a part of the peening apparatus, an electrical indicator mechanism operative to accomplish the aforementioned results. A further object of our invention is to provide an indicator mechanism for a peening apparatus said mechanism being operable to determine, by virtue of an electrical current measuring device, whether or not shot of the desired quality are being fed to the air gun of the apparatus; and a further object of our invention is to provide an electrically controlled indicator mechanism for a peening apparatus said mechanism functioning, to a degree, to determine the nature of the abrasive by determining its electrical conductivity.

Other objects of our invention, including the provision of means for controlling the rate of flow of abrasive to the air gun, and desirable details of construction of parts will become apparent from the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing illustrating said embodiment, in which:

Figure l is a view disclosing the hopper, air gun, and inter-connecting co'nduit structure of a conventional peening apparatus; together with the abrasive controlling and indicator mechanism of my invention;

Figure 2 is a view, taken on the line 22 of Figure 1, disclosing the abrasive fiow controlling means of my invention said means also constituting a part of the indicator means of my invention; and

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 33 of Figure 2.

There is disclosed in Figure l of the drawings a preferred embodiment of our invention including a hopper 10, an air gun 12 and a conduit 14- inter-connecting said gun and hopper. The peening apparatus of our invention may also, as is disclosed in Figure 1, include a second air gun and connecting conduit however since these parts duplicate the gun 12 and conduit 14 only one gun, conduit, control and indicator means will be described in this specification. As is well known in the art the air gun 12, together with an air gun supply conduit 18 and the conduit 14, may be readily handled by the attendant in the operation of peening the work, not shown.

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As to the control and indicator means the same, as is disclosed in Figure 2, includes two spaced apart crescent shaped electrically conductive members 20 and 22. These members are, respectively, adjustably mounted at 24 and 26 in the conduit 14 to a two part flange 27 connected to the conduit at a point in close proximity to the junction between the hopper and conduit; said members slide within the parts of the flange in the adjusting operation. The relative adjustment of the members 20 and 22 determines the area of an orifice 28, Figure 3, through which an abrasive 30 passes in its passage to the air gun. This abrasive is preferably made up of a plurality of steel pellets of a desirable gauge however other suitable electrically conductive abrasive material may be used. A cutofl device 31 of any suitable structure may be incorporated in the conduit 14 between the hopper and the crescent shaped members 20 and 22.

Continuing the description of the indicator means of our invention electrical conductors 32 and 34, connected, respectively, with the electrically conductive crescent shaped members 20 and 22, are electrically connected in series with a suitable source of electricity and an electric lamp 38. A cuto'fl switch 44, an ammeter 40 and a filter 42 may also be included in this circuit.

Describing now the operation of the combined abrasive flow controlling and indicator mechanism of my invention when the attendant controlling the peening apparatus desires to operate the same he first closes the switch 44; and he then opens the cutoff device 31 thereby initiating a gravity operated flow of pellets from the hopper to the air gun. The rate of flow of the pellets is, in large measure, determined by the size of the orifice 28, Figure 2; and as said pellets pass through said orifice they intermittently complete an electric circuit thereby intermittently energizing the lamp 38.

If, for any reason, the pellets jamb up and do not continue to flow into the orifice 28 then when said orifice is clear of pellets the lamp 38 is extinguished; if the jamb occurs between the members 20, 22 and the air gun then the orifice 28 remains filled with pellets and the lamp remains energized; however if neither of these untoward operations takes place then the lamp 38 flickers as the abrasive flows to the air gun and the attendant who is watching said lamp knows that the apparatus is working properly.

If there is a uniform or substantially uniform quality and shape of pellet in the hopper then the ammeter 40 will register a certain or substantially certain degree of current; for the filter 42 will secure this result. Explaining this operation the filter circuit incorporates any one of a number of well known capacitors and inductors to accomplish the function of converting the pulsating signal received into a comparatively smooth DC. current. If the attendant should inadvertently place the wrong abrasive in the hopper then he will be advised of this error; for the conductivity of the undesired abrasive will result in an ammeter reading which will indicate the presence of said abrasive.

There is thus provided, in the adjustable members 20 and 22 and the cooperating electrical controls, (1) means for determining the rate of flow of abrasive to the air gun, (2) means for advising the attendant of the presence in the hopper of an undesired abrasive, (3) means for advising the attendant of a stoppage of flow of abrasive into the orifice 28, (4) means for advising the attendant of a stoppage of flow of abrasive from the orifice, and (5) means for advising the attendant that the peening apparatus is working properly.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been described in considerable detail, we do not wish to be limited to the particular construction shown which may be varied within the scope of the invention, and it is our intention to cover hereby all adaptations, modifications and arrangements thereof which come within the practice of those skilled in the art to which the invention relates.

We claim:

1. The combination with a peening apparatus having a hopper, a plurality of peening abrasive conducting conduits secured to the base of said hopper, an air gun operably connected to the end of each of said conduits; of a source of electricity, an electric lamp for each of said conduits, electrical conductor members mounted in each of said conduits immediately adjacent the connection be tween the hopper and the conduit and positioned and constructed to permit a flow or" peening abrasive therebetween, and electrical conductor means interconnecting the source of electricity, the lamp, and the conductor members associated with each of the ducts.

2. The combination with a peening apparatus having a hopper, a plurality of peening abrasive conducting conduits secured to the base of said hopper, an air gun operably connected to the end of each of said conduits; of a source of electricity, an electric lamp for each of said conduits, spaced apart electrical conductor members adjustably mounted in each of said conduits immediately adjacent the connection between the hopper and the conduit and positioned and constructed to control a flow of peening abrasive therebetween, and electrical conductor means interconnecting, in series, the source of electricity, the lamp, and the conductor members associated with each of the conduits.

3. A peening apparatus including, in combination, a hopper, electrically conductive pellets of abrasive material housed in said hopper, a peening abrasive conducting conduit secured to the hopper, a source of electricity, two spaced apart relatively short electrically conductive studs mounted in said conduit adjacent the connection between the conduit and the hopper, the space between adjacent ends of the studs being wide enough to allow the pellets to pass therebetween when said pellets are moving through the duct after they leave the hopper, an electric lamp, and electrical conductor means interconnecting, in series, the source of electricity, the lamp, and the studs whereby with the passage of the pellets through the space between the studs there is effected an intermittent flow of electricity through the electric lamp to elfect an intermittent energization thereof.

l. A peening apparatus including, in combination, a hopper, electrically conductive pellets of abrasive material housed in said hopper, a peening abrasive conducting duct secured to the hopper, a source of electricity, two spaced apart relatively short electrically conductive studs adjustably mounted in said duct immediately adjacent the connection between the duct and the hopper, the space between adjacent ends of the studs being wide enough to allow the pellets to pass therebetween when said pellets are moving through the duct after they leave the hopper, an ammeter, an electric lamp, and electrical conductor means interconnecting, in series, the source of electricity, the lamp, the ammeter, and the studs whereby with the passage of the pellets through the space between the studs there is effected an intermittent flow of electricity through the electric lamp to elTect an intermittent energization thereof, the ammeter serving to determine the electrical conductivity of the pellets and therefore, to a degree, the nature thereof.

5. A peening apparatus including, in combination, a hopper, electrically conductive particles of abrasive ma terial housed in said hopper, a conduit secured at one of its ends to the hopper and adapted to be connected at its other end to an air gun, a source of electricity, an electric lamp, current measuring means including an ammeter and means for smoothing out the current flowing through the ammeter, means adjustably mounted in the conduit and serving to control the rate of flow of abrasive through the conduit and, in combination with the abrasive, to pro-- vide a conductor of electricity, together with electrically conductive means interconnecting, in series, the source of electricity, the lamp, the current measuring means and the control means mounted in the conduit.

Unger Dec. 10, 1940 Dutoit Aug. 12, 1947 

